Pastry Wars!
by PRETTYPRINCESSchan
Summary: [Mitsukuni Haninozua x Original Character] Cooking class has always been the best time of day for Honey, or at least it was until the arrival of a new student.
1. Culinary Class

**M i t s u k u n i - - x**

**

* * *

**

"_Kon-ban-wa_, minna ~"

Once the small, cheerful statement had soared past the small blond's lips, he was immediately bombarded with excess amounts of attention from members of the opposite sex.

"**HONEY-KUN ** !" Cooed one particularly unimportant female, her proclamation was of course followed by that of another.

More and more girls seemed to want to display how they too were stoked to find that once again fate had succeeded in allowing them to be in the same class as the famed Loli-Shota Type.

"Hi-chan, Jun-chan, Aya-chan, Yuu-chan. . ." The fun sized Senior began with a calculating grin, listing off each particular classmate off on his pudgy little fingers.

Mitsukuni Haninozuka was never one to forget a name and face no matter how insignificant, but the women in his life never bothered to see past his adorable charade long enough to realize that this wasn't because they were "special" to him. On the contrary, he really _didn't_ love a single solitary one of them, and if their constant attention and patronage to the Host Club hadn't resulted in all the free cakey he could stomach. . .well, he probably wouldn't have bothered sparing them a glance in the first place.

Nevertheless, though - he was more than happy to pretend.

"Usa-chan and I have missed you all so much!" Mitsukuni trilled, the corners of his lips tugging upwards even further if that were possible.

Although this specific statement was something routine for the small blonde to say, just as he did at the beginning of every new school year since joining Tamaki's little club, his audience ate it up.

"Mitsukuni. . ." The soft call of his true name, accompanied by a hand clasped upon the shoulder of his blue uniform jacket, immediately tour the tiny seventeen year old's attention away from the childish nature he was portraying.

"Ah. . ." He murmured in thought, glancing from his beloved stuffed rabbit to his adoring fans, before finally allowing his peripheral vision to catch sight of his dear cousin.

"Sorry, Takashi. . ." Mitsukuni apologized curtly, although his words had a double meaning to them.

"Usa-chan and I didn't mean to exclude you. ~" He assured the stoic, ebony haired skyscraper of a person.

Although his conclusion was simple enough, what he really meant to say was - "Sorry for disappointing you again, Takashi."

Whereas not many could decipher the meaning behind Takashi's blank glance cast in his elder relative's direction, Mitsukuni himself certainly did.

And he, being the clever boy that he was, could easily decipher that Morinozuka Takashi was quite unhappy with his use of faux affection.

At this realization, the Loli-Shota too felt a bit irked.

It seemed to him that Takashi was always unhappy with what he did.

When he had cast aside his naturally childish demeanor and love of cute things to impress his father, Takashi had been immediately displeased even when everyone else was overjoyed.

When Tamaki Suoh had subsequently convinced the elder Haninozuka to revert back to his adorable ways, Takashi had been a little more accepting.

This fact meant more to Mitsukuni than the fact that his younger brother now loathed him for choosing sweets over strength.

But in the end, that period of grace had not lasted long and Mitsukuni now found himself suffocating under the weight of Takashi's displeasure, his unfulfilled expectations.

"It's alright, Mitsukuni." Takashi responded finally, and much to Mitsukuni's relief, it seemed as if the Wild Type earnestly meant it - for once. Thus, Mitsukuni felt at ease enough to regain his optimistic dispositon.

"Yatta! I'm excited!" The almond eyed host exclaimed, completely truthful.

"Alright class, listen up! And Honey dear, do try to calm down just a bit . . ." The sudden call of his Sensei immediately caught everyone's attention, and the particular afterthought she added on Mitsukuni's behalf resulted not only in the giggling of his classmates, but also the appearance of light pink blotches upon his tiny cheeks.

"Ah. . .hai, sensei ~" Mitsukuni muttered meekly, his gaze falling to the desk in front of him. Despite his embarrassment, he secretly still could not contain his sudden excitement. After all, he had numerous reasons to be enthused.

Namely because he was a Senior, Takashi was being much less chiding today, and most importantly, the first class of the day for him was -

"I'd like to welcome you all to Advanced Culinary Class!" Mitsukuni's teacher, Takahashi-sensei, greeted promptly with a wide smile.

To the young Haninozuka heir, that could only mean one thing:

_Cakey._

"Now before we begin cooking, I'd like to introduce you to a new student solely to this class-"

_Cakey._

_Cakey._

_Cakey._

Mentally, Mitsukuni couldn't help but to continue to chant the delectible word that was used as a regular part of his everyday vocabulary.

He did this internal chanting so intently, that he failed to pay attention the the petitie brunette standing beside his teacher at the very front of the classroom.

Had he payed her very much attention at all, he would've felt inclined to ask when she had gotten there? And more importantly. . .why in the world was she clad in the Ouran's Junior High female uniform instead of a pompous, lemon colored attrocity like the rest of the girls in the room?

It was not until Takashi let out another low grumble of "Hmm. . ." that Mitsukuni even bothered to really glance at the aforementioned new student.

And even then, the only information he really seemed to gather about her was that her name was Ogawa Miwa and generically speaking, she was very pleased to to meet him. Or them, to be precise.

Mitsukuni was highly prepared to forget all about this new, unfamiliar girl after that. After all, he'd learned her name and remembered her face easily enough. . .so why should he bother to really get to know her?

"Sugoi. . .! Ogawa-chan, you're so cute!"

"Almost as cute as Honey-kun. . .~"

But upon catching the excited whisperes of some of his classmates/regular customers, Mitsukuni couldn't help but falter.

This was strike one for Ogawa Miwa.

"Calm down, minna-san! Now, Ogawa-chan, if you could please take a seat next to Honey?"

Quickly, Mitsukuni's eyes darted to the seats on either side of him.

One was, thankfully enough, occupied by Takashi.

And the other? Well, Takahashi-Sensei didn't mean for the new girl to steal Usa-chan's seat, did she?

"Honey-kun, raise your hand so she knows who you are!" The once serene sensei barked out of impatience for the blond boy.

Mitsukuni hesitantly complied, although when Ogawa Miwa's butt made firm contact with the face of his prized pink plushie, he immediately knew that this had been a mistake.

"U-U-UWAH!" Mitsukuni whined loudly, his bottom lip trembling for effect. He almost couldn't contain his outrage for this girl who had the audacity to sit upon his beloved Usa-chan.

Miwa, looking utterly biwildered, turned to stare at the blubbering boy.

Before she'd even had the chance to question what Mitsukuni's deal was, Takashi came to the rescue and without further ado, reached across the wailing Loli-Shota in order to tug at the lone plushie appendage, sticking out from the edge of Miwa's chair.

"You're sitting on it." was all the Morinozuka really needed to say before Miwa realized her error, and lifted up from the seat.

"Oh, o-oops!" She squeaked, seeming more bemused than sincerely sorry.

The Host Club cousin's thoroughly ignored her statement once Usa-chan had been rescued successfully and Mitsukuni's bitter tears quickly evaporated from his salty cheeks.

"Hmph!" He found himself scoffing in disdain, much to the shock of his classmates.

This was strike two for Ogawa Miwa.

But even so, Mitsukuni was prepared to remain cool and complacent, much to the relief of all the females in the room who weren't exactly prepared to meet "dark" Honey.

"Mou, you guys are sure rambuctious today!" Takahashi-sensei mushroom sighed, bringing a hand to her forehead.

Most of the class looked at her apologetically in return.

"I get it, would it help if we made Cake today. . .?" She offered with an expectant smile.

It didn't take a genius to see that she was directing this statement towards the unhappy Haninozuka.

". . .CAKEY!" Mitsukuni cried out in glee.

His eyes had been replaced with large, comical hearts and drool was already beginning to trail down the corners of his lips.

_Cakey._

_Cakey._

_Cakey!_

He found himself chanting internally again, completely forgetting all the misfortune that the new girl had recently brought him and his stuffed bunny.

"Eto - Sensei?"

The sudden query that escaped Miwa's lips caught Mitsukuni's attention, whether he wanted it to or not.

He assured himself that she, being "almost as cute" as he, was probably equally as passionate about sweets.

And thus, he couldn't help but begin to picture how cute she'd look, devouring cakes by his side.

Maybe even at the Host Club with him! Another chummy little customer, wrapped around his little, icing covered fingers. . .

"Yes, Ogawa-chan?" Sensei retorted, blinking.

The statement that came, in response to this, was something that definitely set fire to the Haninozuka's strange "Inner-Mind-Theater!" A particular habit he'd picked up from the Prince Type, no doubt.

"I don't like cake."

. . .Had Mitsukuni thought she was cute before? Because, at strike three he now saw her for what she really was, a hideous, inhumane **monster**.

* * *

**Mitsukuni is _so_ cute. :)**


	2. Girl Problems

**H a r u h i - - x**

* * *

"She's such a peculiar little girl. . ."

"Naturally, my dear, anyone that makes themselves an enemy to Honey-sempai has got to have something wrong with her head. . ."

"You know what else one must have in that particular situation?"

"What, Akiko-chan?"

"A _death wish._"

It had quickly become the talk of the school although Fujioka Haruhi had absolutely no idea _why._

She liked to believe that she was a great deal more logical than the rest of the female population at Ouran, and this was not at all due to any sort of arrogance but rather the simple fact that any female that would willingly invest their time and money into such a frivolous organization as the Host Club could not be trusted to possess common sense.

Thus, Haruhi could only assume that the gossip that Ouran Academy's female students were so fervent about circulating around the privileged school's hallowed halls was quite frankly complete and utter **bullshit.**

Or at the very least it must have been some utterly exaggerated misunderstanding that apparently seemed to have taken place between Honey-sempai and some extraordinarily misfortunate "little" girl.

"I really would share with you, ladies, demo(but). . .~"

Haruhi's attention was immediately piqued by the sound of Haninozuka Mitsukuni's tentative statement of what could only be the clichéd lies of a boy that was skilled in the art of hosting.

"I've only got so much cakey, you see, and Usa-chan and I won't let _it_ be taken from us~!"

To the so-called Natural Rookie of the Host Club, this statement already came off as a bit strange. However, once it was coupled with the pouty body language of a furrowed brow, sharp almond eyes, and cheeks that were puffed up in a very chipmunk-like fashion, the statement became more than that – it became undeniable proof that there must have been some sort of truth to the fickle words of a few chatty high school girls.

Something had definitely put the normally sanguine senior in an awful, possessive mood; Haruhi knew this to be factual.

And whether she realized it or not, so did the rest of the hosts – particularly two troublesome twins.

Eventually, after a great deal of time (or at least it seemed like a great deal to Haruhi since it became quite tiring to smile charmingly at girls that didn't even retain enough intelligence to realize that Fujioka-kun was actually a -_chan_), it was finally time for the Host Club to close for the day and thus all of the female customers began to file out in half-hazard clusters of posh clicks, each of them with sunken shoulders at the very idea of having to leave their beloved designations.

"Oi, Honey-sempai. . ." The twin that Haruhi knew to be Hikaru began coyly, once the last glimpse of pale yellow had vanished with a loud swish from the confines of the Host Club's headquarters.

"Mmph," The Loli-Shota acknowledged with swelled, confectionary-filled cheeks. It took the tiny male a moment or two to realize that it was indeed impolite to talk with his mouth full, but once it had actually occurred to him he wasted no time in swallowing his cake.

"Yes, Hika-chan?" Honey inquired back in response. Although his huge doe eyes might have made it seem as if his line of thinking was innocent, inwardly Honey was definitely rolling his eyes at the two of them. They were amusing, sure, but _way_ too easy to decipher. Honestly, in Honey's opinion, the two of them were awful actors. Did they really believe that they could pass anything off as nonchalant with cheeky grins like that?

"Kaoru and I have picked up an interesting tidbit of information from our lady-friends today. . ." Hikaru drawled, and it was now obvious to everyone, not just Honey, that something mischievous was afoot.

"Would you like to hear about it?" Kaoru finished for his twin. The ginger siblings slyly began to approach either side of the voracious senior, and once they had him successfully surrounded it was made quite obvious that whether Honey wanted to hear about it or not was quite an irrelevant detail.

"Ooh, Usa-chan~!" Honey called, not bothering to give a direct response to the younger boy just yet. The corners of his lips stretched upwards thus causing a few crumbs that had lingered upon his mouth to come tumbling down into his lap. The Haninozuka appeared to be ultimately unaware of this messy display however as he instead opted for grinning widely at his small stuffed companion.

"Hika-chan and Kao-chan are going to tell us a story and it isn't even bedtime yet!" Honey squealed, clapping his hands in excitement – or perhaps it was simply _mock_-excitement? One could never be too sure.

Those within the room that were not quite so naïve about the small aristocrat's inner workings, such as Haruhi, Mori, and Kyouya, were silently praising Mitsukuni Haninozuka for his ingenious ability to turn a situation completely around from something that could potentially harm him to something that benefited his cute image all the more.

The stitched smile adorning Usa-chan's face seemed to radiate a similar sense of happiness to that of its flesh and blood comrade almost as if to say, "_Oh boy! A story for Usa-chan's ears to behold? Sugoi! What a treat~!"_

"Err, Honey. . ."

This was of course Haruhi's tentative approach to warning the boy of the awkward, uncomfortable situation that the Little-Devil types were about to put him in.

"Our customers told us that you're having _girl_ troubles~." The twins chorused before Haruhi could get any further with her hesitant reveal.

"Eh?" Honey blinked owlishly whilst cocking his head to the side in utter confusion.

"Usa-chan and I _love_ girls! Our customers are so cute and nice and always willing to bring delicious foods for us to sample. So, why would you think that we were having trouble with them, neh?"

Whilst this previous statement escaped Honey's lips, up went his innocent façade – his well-practiced pokerface.

"We never said it was an issue with one of your _customers_—" Hikaru began with a furrowed brow only to be interrupted by an idiot that beforehand had been unusually quiet.

"You fools! I have heard it as well, our Loli-Shota is in love with a girl from his Cooking Class~! My princely heart swells with excitement for the discovery of his son's other half~! A new princess, a new daughter-in-law will be acquired for our kingdom! Oh the joys of this wonderful—"

It now seemed as if it were time for the usual, melodramatic occurrence of the day: The appearance and the lengthy, incredibly superfluous rant of the Host Club King.

"You're wrong as usual, Tamaki." This statement was promptly delivered from the Host Club's very own voice of logic and reason: Kyouya Ootori.

"K-Kyouya?" Tamaki called in absolute outrage and apparent shock at being put in his place so promptly, so harshly.

"According to my data," Kyouya began, not bothering to glance up from the screen of his laptop. "Honey-sempai merely threw a tantrum today in Advanced Culinary Class due to a female student's protests to cake being the baking task of choice today."

Haruhi was curious as to how Kyouya had acquired such information, but by now she knew not to question it.

If Honey had been even remotely offended by the phrase, "…threw a tantrum…" he did not bother to show it, instead he merely settled with nodding curtly in conformation of Kyouya's statement.

"I hate her." Honey claimed blandly.

Several of the Host Club members gasped at his audacity.

"Surely you can't mean that, Honey—" Tamaki began, floundering about in disbelief.

"But I do, I do, Tama-chan~! Ogawa is a despicable monster!" Honey cried out in assurance.

"I suppose it is rather peculiar to dislike cake, but. . ." Haruhi murmured, deep in thought.

"But she cannot be considered a monster, Honey-sempai! After all, she's a girl and all girls are lovely princesses deep down! So, that's why. . ." Tamaki began, his eyes glinting fiercely in the light of the third music room.

"We must do our best as Hosts to help her!" Tamaki proclaimed.

"But why, MiLord? She's antagonizing Honey, so she really doesn't deserve help from us." Kaoru pointed out flatly, and although you couldn't really tell it, the twins were relishing the extremes that their simple questions had caused the conversation to escalate to.

"Because if a member of the Host Club hates her, she must really be suffering…!" Tamaki concluded.

Whilst Honey let out a hmph of dismay at the very though of helping such an inhumane girl, Haruhi merely sighed.

After all, Haruhi reasoned, how arrogant must a host be to assume that a girl is disenfranchised without their acceptance?

* * *

**Thank you ever so much for your reviews~! / Sorry for such a late update. X-X**

•**TartxMonkeyxStormX4-Eva:** Gah! I want cakey too! Sorry the update is so late, and thank you for reviewing. ~

•**CheekyBrunette:** I'm glad I was able to keep him pure and true to his character, I hope I was able to do the same in this chapter. :O I'm glad you like this story, and thank you ever so much for reviewing!

•**Milan:** :P Sorry for the late update! Thank you for reviewing!

•**Life. Is. A. Ray. Of. Sunshine**: I'm glad you like it! Sorry for the late update and thank you so much for reviewing~!

•**Souls of the Blue Fire Phoenix**: Thank you for reviewing! Well, I updated so hopefully after this chapter you'll still want to read more? :D


	3. Yasuchika

**M i w a**

Her almond orbs narrowed considerably at the pair of males seated diagonally from her, their attempt at surreptitious stares finally striking some hazardous nerve.

It wasn't like they were the only ones that had been giving her unwanted attention; in fact Miwa had been met with a surge of speculation the very moment she had refuted cake within her culinary class. As the occurrence had happened yesterday, though, she hadn't expected it to bite her in the ass again today. So, of course it _did_.

On the way in to school this morning, she had been met with the chilling stares and obvious gossip of just about every girl (and more) that had been fawning over the combined cuteness of Mitsukuni Haninozuka and herself within her new class. Miwa had already been terrified at the prospect of participating in a class with high school _seniors_, so managing to piss off a particular senior boy was just icing to the awful cake.

"Ugh," Miwa groaned quietly at the very thought of it – stupid, _stupid_ cake. It was just her luck that she would have been put into a class opposite a boy who was in love with it.

And it was such a shame, too, because Miwa had found the boy to be irresistibly adorable. This was mostly due to the fact that he appeared to be around her height (something that Miwa had found to be an uncommon occurrence) and also because of the way his blonde hair and brown orbs gleamed in the florescent light. Miwa Ogawa had always been a sucker for blondes, and she found this fact to be most annoying considering that the childish tantrum throwing that she had witnessed originated from the vocal chords of the most endearing blonde boy she had ever seen.

If Miwa actually bothered to think about it, she probably would have realized that what bothered her so much about the staring of the boys in her current class as opposed to the vitriolic glares of the girls in the hallway was the fact that one of the guys looked an awful lot like Honey.

Attempting to be as nonchalant as possible, she allowed her hand to delve within the confines of her school bag.. After a few moments of rummaging around blindly, she managed to retrieve a small pink notebook that was heavily embellished in adorable characters from _Sanrio._

Although the huge Hello Kitty face beaming up at her from its two-dimensional location upon the piece of stationary ordinarily would have provided comfort, it now only managed to annoy Miwa Ogawa. Why? Well, it was cute – just like the boys that had been frustrating her lately.

_Hey, stalker-kun and creepy-chan,_

_Could you please stop gawking at me? It makes me so uncomfortable! _＼(o )／

_Love,_

__[If you're staring at me so much, you must know who I am, ne?]_

After scrawling the above message out elegantly, she hastily folded the note into an intricate shape before flicking it at the forehead of the ogling blonde.

"Ow!" The aforementioned middle school student hissed as he pressed his fingers rather gingerly to the spot in which the paper had made contact, AKA – right between the eyes.

"HANINOZUKA-SAN! Do we have a problem?!" The decrepit old teacher screeched, his attention, like the rest of the room's occupants, had immediately been drawn to the boy at the outburst.

Cheeks tinting and shoulders slumping in absolute embarrassment, Yasuchika Haninozuka sighed. "N-No, sir…."

If the humiliated youth had thought that to be the end of his troubles, he was certainly wrong by all accounts. This became apparent the moment that his chipper companion wacked him with a kendo stick that seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

"Disrupting class is rude, Yasuchika." The raven haired male stated simply. He made no further comments as he put his lethal little weapon back wherever it was that it had come from.

"U-Uh, thank you, Morinozuka-san," The teacher retorted tentatively, a bead of sweat, no doubt borne from an incredible feeling of incredulousness, ran down the creases of his forehead.

Although he seemed startled, it did not take long for him to return to the didactic matter at hand.

"Hm…" Miwa muttered, rather put off by this occurrence. She had never before been in a homeroom class that contained Yasuchika and Satoshi, so it was inevitable that she would not be easily adapting to their bizarre antics; that was just a given fact. However, Miwa was under the particular impression that the behavior was not something she should _have_ to get used to, considering the last name that Miwa now discovered to be something that Yasuchika and Mitsukuni indisputably shared, so she couldn't quite comprehend why her new teacher had let it go without even a slap on the wrist.

She rested her chin in the palm of her right hand and her eyelids began to flutter shut as her free hand strummed a gentle rhythm against the now useless notepad. She didn't expect her letter to produce a reply, and after the scene she had just witnessed, she wasn't entirely sure that she wanted one. Her desires were irrelevant in the matter, of course, as Yasuchika Haninozuka was not one to let an insult slide without proper retribution. Especially not from a girl that had caused him both embarrassment and pain all within the span of a few minutes.

His pen scribbled furiously, harshly against the hot pink paper he had received and unfolded from an oddly meticulous design. The nerve of the girl, insulting him _and_ his family!

_Dear Ogawa-san,_

_Please don't flatter yourself. My cousin and I have better things to do than to "gawk" at the likes of you; we were just curious as to whether or not you were the infuriating female who had been provoking my elder brother. I see now that you must be, for whom else could manage to vex with the abrading glance of almond orbs alone?_

_Loathe,_

_Karate Captain – Haninozuka Yasuchika_

_P.S. Obviously I know your name; it's the plague on __**everyone**__'s lips._

Miwa was naïve, but she was certainly not a fool. Even if she decided to take the risk of dozing off in class, she was not a girl that was about to let her guard down for everything. And so, when a pink square went soaring towards her temple with the precision of a ninja's shuriken, it was not surprising that she would be agile enough to catch it before it grazed her porcelain skin.

Yasuchika openly gaped at her, the girl who had caught the piece of paper delicately between her forefinger and thumb as if she were born to do so, and couldn't even begin to fathom how she had accomplished such a thing. Certainly she wasn't a new student; otherwise the title would have become a placeholder for her actual name. Yet, Yasuchika could not recall mention of her name in synonymy with any term of athletic endearment. And as captain of Ouran Private Academy's Karate Club, he was damn sure that he would know.

"Hah," A loud guffaw of laughter escaped Miwa's lips as she read the scathing retort. She had not been affected at all by the astringent tone of this odd fellow's reply, and was instead simply amused by one selective detail of the whole thing.

Yasuchika's penmanship had been so grandiloquent and inflamed that there was scarcely room upon the piece of paper for a decent counter, thus Miwa languidly decided to flip the paper over and etch across it a large, simplistic statement to win the short-lived letter war.

_It's sweet of you to have noticed the color of my eyes, Yasuchika-kun._

And with a crafty little toss, Haninozuka Yasuchika was met with a new wave of mortification entirely.

"S-SHUTUP, YOU!"

**.**

**.**

**.**

"HANINOZUKA-SAN!" "YASUCHIKA, STOP IT!" _THWAP!_


	4. The Paper

Kyouya Ootori was not one to give in to the trivial gossip of a botched and incredibly juvenile newspaper, but he was always one to read it. He would never let anyone know that, of course, but it was a mandatory task for insurance purposes. The Newspaper Club was run by a bunch of inferior rabble who had nothing better to do than covet the success of the Host Club. They often printed base, accusatory articles about the hosts, and Kyouya saw fit to make sure that not a word of it could ever be perceived as the truth. It would be bad for business, after all. So, when the Shadow Lord came across the bold-printed headline of Monday's edition, his sensors were immediately put on red alert.

**FUEDING FAMILIES: HOW THE HANINOZUKAS HAVE WRONGED THE OGAWA CHILDREN!**

Kyouya brought a tense hand to his forehead at the very sight. It was bad enough when that slime, Akira Kamatsuzawa, printed nonsense about the twins being gay or Tamaki being some evil genius of sorts, but involving the families of Haninozuka and Ogawa was absolutely unacceptable. If word of the drivel in this week's article got back to the head of the Ogawa house and Akihiko Ogawa thought that his daughter was being bullied by the children of one of his biggest clients, everyone would suffer immensely. Hell, the more that Kyouya thought about it, the more he realized how important maintaining a good relationship with Ogawa Miwa's family was. After all, her family owned one of the biggest law firms in Japan, and represented several affluent families in very important fiscal cases from time to time. Why, even the Ootori family was associated with the Ogawas.

_Mitsukuni Haninozuka's innocent façade has begun to crack and the real colors of the demon third year have started to seep through_. _The eighteen-year-old miscreant has always hidden behind a veneer of childlike innocence in order to get away with being selfish, narcissistic, and cruel, and it's worked for him like a charm. However, now that he has begun to bully an innocent little middle school girl, we of the Newspaper Club can no longer sit by and allow his villainy t continue._

A nauseating migraine began to pulse rhythmically within the youngest Ootori's frontal lobe as he crumpled up the issue, quite unable to continue perusing the damage a moment longer. It was interesting to note that it even surprised Kyouya, the level of ridiculous that the Newspaper Club's garbage could reach. Kyouya tossed the crumpled up newspaper into a nearby rubbish bin, the only place such a load of shit belonged, before leaping from his red cushioned seat and heading out to intercept the others who never quite managed to arrive to club activities as early as he did.

* * *

It wasn't very difficult to find Tamaki. At the obnoxious noise level his melodramatic sobs were reaching, it was a surprise that customers hadn't found him first and flocked to him, eager to comfort. It seems that he too had caught wind of the interesting new article that depicted the torrid rivalry between Honey and Miwa, and that he, predictably, was buying into it rather gullibly.

"Kyouya," The bawling blonde paused in order to hiccup back a pathetic little snivel. "I can't believe that our son would be so very mean~" He wailed as globs of princely snot ran down his face and splattered repulsively upon the gray paper that he had clutched within his trembling hands.

Kyouya blinked at this, slightly surprised. After all, it was not very often that Tamaki referred to anyone but Haruhi as his precious offspring. "_Don't_ believe it; it's utter mendacity."

The Prince Type had to think about it thoroughly, consider the truth of Kyouya's fierce refusal. His best friend had never lied to him before, but he didn't want to dismiss the validity of the school paper either._Well_, Tamaki pursed his lips. _If father still allowed their club to exist and publish weekly issues, then they couldn't be that despicable, could they?_

"I can see you're debating the facts, but my research doesn't lie." Kyouya muttered after a moment of silent deliberation. He gestured to his clipboard with a gentle tap of his ballpoint pen as if to emphasize the absolute nature of his data. It was this statement that finally got through to the sulky lad.

"Oka-san, you're right! How could I have ever doubted you? Doubted Honey-sempai?!" Tamaki inquired with all hints of ugly depression now vacant from his dazzling face. He leapt from his provincial corner of woe before taking up a resolute, fist-pumping pose.

Even if Kyouya had wanted to make some flat out decree of his current companion's absurdity to the world, he decided to respond only with the suave shrug of his shoulders.

"…But the matter of his animosity for the fair maiden still proves to be problematic…" Tamaki mumbled, his hands falling neatly to his sides as he contemplated the unquestionable fact.

Kyouya sighed at this, filled with a newfound contempt for the Honey and Miwa situation. "I don't understand why this has become such a big deal, but I'm certain that Honey will come around eventually. Her family is far too important to him for our sempai to loathe her much longer." The Cool Type revealed, resignedly reaching up to rub at his stiff shoulder.

"What do you mean by that?" Tamaki quirked a beautiful blonde brow at the new piece of information. Since he was a friend of Kyouya's, Tamaki was well aware of the fact that Miwa's family was important, and although he personally had never been involved with them it was a definite fact that his own family did business with them as well. "The Ogawas are important to a lot of people, but I sincerely doubt the importance of fiscal court in Honey's innocent mind…"

Kyouya smirked at this. Even if he tended not to show it, the Suoh heir was rather sharp.

"I'm not talking about Akihiko Ogawa; I'm talking about Susumu Sato~"

The smug grin that wormed its way across Kyouya's face was a direct result of the now flabbergasted Suoh.

"Susumu Sato – CEO of _Sato_ _Sweets_?" Tamaki inquired as his mind reeled in its sudden desire to connect the dots. It was a well-known fact that _Sato_ _Sweets!_ made the best candies and confectionaries in all of Japan. Their products were in every store, franchise or family-run, and even their cakes could be found every single day upon the tables of the Ouran Host Club's Third Music Room. What was not so well known about the company, as it turns out, was that its owner used to be married to Akihiko Ogawa – Miwa's father; thus making… "She's her daughter?" Tamaki flailed at the astounding news.

"Intriguing, isn't it? Although, I don't know what I find more fascinating, the fact that Honey hates Susumu Sato's daughter…or that the daughter in question hates cake." An amused chuckle teetered past the young Ootori's lips at the irony. It was a rare, comfortable laugh that he often refused to share with anyone, a laugh that rarely even occurred with those close to him.

Tamaki smiled warmly at his cold and calculating companion. "Thanks to you, Oka-san, I've found just the thing to patch up their bumpy relationship!"

Kyouya blanched accordingly. He should have known that telling Tamaki anything would only serve to cause trouble. Nevertheless, though, at the utterance of the blonde's odd nickname, Kyouya Ootori decided he might just humor him. "I'm sure your plan is doomed to fail, _Otou-san._"


	5. Enough

Takashi Morinozuka was very well aware of the tension within the room - the kind he could have sliced to bits with his Kendo sword if he had really, truly desired to.

"Hmm…" He grunted in minute irritation as his gaze flickered indolently from one livid, adolescent midget to the other.

Things had not at all been going well since the day that Ogawa Miwa transferred into the third year's Advanced Culinary class and declared he disdain for Honey's absolute favorite thing. And their newfound aversion for once another had immediately resulted in several things, such as:

•The cooking assignments were all now entirely individual and based upon preference, it seemed.

•A chair had been placed between Honey and Miwa in order to further separate them; the unlucky middleman was, thankfully, just Usa-chan.

•The rivalry had become the topic of choice amongst the gossiping girls of Ouran Academy.

•The newspaper had decided to run an infuriatingly inaccurate article upon the matter that depicted Honey as some kind of malevolent fiend.

•And, of course, Tamaki's self-righteous personality trait had sparked to life the moment that he became eager to help a poor girl in need.

Generally, the stoic young man was inclined to agree with everything his adorable little cousin had to say, but in this particular state of affairs he was becoming quite fed up with the antics that ordinarily pacifistic little Mitsukuni Haninozuka had created.

"Ooh~ I think it must be done now, everyone!" The aforementioned, troublesome youth muttered to an audience of adoring females whilst he slid a hot pink oven mitt over his hand. It was obviously much too big for it, but the hilarity of it was nothing in comparison to the way that the _toque blanche_ that Honey had adorned just for cooking class seemed to consume his cranium.

His statement was immediately met with a wave of silly, swooning girls.

"HONEY-SEMPAI IS JUST SO CUTE!" "I'M NOT SURE THAT MY HEART CAN TAKE IT! I'M GOING TO EXPLODE FROM THE INSANE LEVEL OF KAWAII!" "Oh, _my_~"

With a delicate delve of his gloved hand into the fiery depths of the expensive oven, Honey had retrieved a rather burnt and pathetic excuse for a chocolate cake.

"Saa…~" He murmured in careful concentration as he placed the cake upon the stove top.

Takashi could easily decipher the sudden sympathetic atmosphere as it was created from the giggling group of girls. It was quite obvious that they intended to come to the cute male's aid the very moment in which, in a tearful fit, he realized that cooking was not his forte.

"YATTA! THIS LOOKS TASTEY, MINNA-SAN!" He cooed as flowers radiated from his very person.

Meanwhile, a very focused Miwa Ogawa had been concentrating upon her particular cooking task at hand. After the day that she had upset nearly the entire class with a protest of cake, the softhearted teacher had been unable to make any further decisions to upset her class. Thus, she had lost all of what little vertebrate she had been born with and resigned to simply smiling encouragingly at her students' victual works from afar. And judging by the way the teacher's gaze seemed to remain slowly upon the troublesome two, Takashi could tell that he was not the only one who noticed the strain - even if both Mitsukuni and Miwa liked to put on a good, genial show for the surrounding onlookers.

Takashi noticed that the third year junior high student's preferred task at hand for today had been something spectacular indeed – a chocolate soufflé, the likes of which Takashi Morinozuka didn't doubt would be amazing. After all, Miwa was the youngest Ouran student to ever gain entrance into an advanced placement class.

"OH MY _GOD_!" The aforementioned female visibly seethed with overflowing rage. It was inevitable that, as the running gag with soufflés usually go, a loud implement of volume from the vocal chords of the star Haninozuka had resulted in the immediate deflation of what could have been culinary art. Takashi knew that this would not bode well at all for the already tender situation. "I can't believe you, Haninozuka-kun!" Miwa wailed, shoulders slumping.

It was interesting to see that quite like her short statured rival, Miwa never managed to work the angry angle well; instead she merely looked like a child whose ice cream had splattered inadvertently upon the pavement. Her large brown eyes seemed even larger, swollen with the stab of disappointment and the promise of unshed tears, and her lips quivered effectively.

"I can't believe you would try to make a soufflé, Bakemono-chan, when you could have made cake." The prideful youth countered crossly. If it was anyone else's soufflé, it was understood that the Loli-Shota type would have proved to be a little more contrite. As it were, though, Mitsukuni Haninozuka could not be bothered to worry himself over the failed creations of cake hating monster.

This chilling statement struck a chord in all of the occupants within the room.

"Dark Honey-sempai…" An irrelevant female began, utterly slack-jawed at the display. "It's so intense; my heart might just stop…" She flushed.

Similar sentences of the like followed this one, escaping the lips of girls that found the new, dangerous demeanor of Honey to be something endearing in itself.

Takashi exhaled uncharacteristically loud at this. It had often been said that the eldest Morinozuka brother had a fetish for all things small and cute, so it was only natural that he would find something wrong with his cousin behaving in a manner that was absolutely antithetical to such.

"The only monster here is the one that eats three whole cakes in one sitting," Miwa responded indignantly with her petite little nose angled high within the air. Her accusation was followed shortly by a resentful little huff.

It seemed as if a large arrow had struck the Haninozuka in the chest in a very dramatic, Tamaki Suoh sort of manner as the eighteen-year-old noticeably recoiled.

"OGAWA-CHAN IS MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE EEEEAAAN!" Honey cried as tears sprouted from his creased lids like water from a fire-hydrant.

His fangirls made to round their brand new glares and grimaces upon the culprit, but could not bring themselves to keep up the cruel expressions the very moment that they found that she too was blubbering like a newborn baby.

"YOU RUINED MY SOUFFLE, YOU INSUFERABLE JERK!" She sniffled wildly.

"Honey-sempai, Miwa-chan, don't cry…" The girls pleaded in heart-wrenching unison.

Takashi Morinozuka knew now that he was the only one left with any sense at all within the entire class, especially when he observed that the sensei was sniveling along with the oblivious Ouran girls.

With a crack of his knuckles and a quick rotation of his shoulders, Takashi Morinozuka realized exactly what he had to do – even if it was something that had to occur sooner than his fearless, Host club leader had wanted it to.

"Mitsukuni," Takashi called, his fingers finding their way to the collar of the weeping youth's uniform jacket. "Miwa," In the very same fashion, his free hand found its way to the fine fabric of Miwa's middle school ensemble. "That's enough."

Without any further speech uttered (as it was odd enough that Mori had spoken that much within the same hour, anyway) and struggling students in hand, Takashi began the slow, perilous journey to the headquarters of Ouran High School's prestigious Host Club.


End file.
